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Tribes seek probe of dioxin in The Dalles

Four Indian nations seek DEQ investigation at Superfund site where railroad ties are treated with creosote, according to Cascadia Times.

Four Indian nations in the Columbia Basin are calling on the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality to launch a "comprehensive investigation" into dioxin contamination at a Union Pacific-owned Superfund site in The Dalles, according to an article by Paul Koberstein and Jessica Applegate of the Portland environmental journal Cascadia Times.

Past studies showed that several species of Columbia River fish caught downstream from The Dalles were contaminated with dioxin, a highly toxic chemical, according to the article. No one knows yet if the dioxin originated at the Union Pacific Superfund site.

But the four Indian nations, each with treaty rights to Columbia River fish, want to find out.

The reporters' article, Dioxin in The Dalles, is the fourth in a series on a site in the Columbia riverfront community long used to treat railroad ties with creosote. It was based on a review of 5,500 pages of documents released in May by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.

Read the entire story here: https://www.times.org/dioxin-in-the-dalles